1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus such as a digital still camera or a digital video camera, and a lens barrel which the image pickup apparatus has.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital cameras which are capable of taking an image of a subject using an image pickup device such as a CCD or a CMOS and capturing the taken image into memory have been in widespread use. Such digital cameras perform an optical zooming operation in which the shooting angle of view is varied by changing the spacing between a plurality of taking lens groups. In recent years, there has been an increasing demand for higher optical zoom rate and thinner camera bodies, and realization of an arrangement that enables increase in the stroke of a taking lens group and miniaturization of a camera main body has been required.
Accordingly, when a taking lens barrel is collapsed into a camera main body, a lens group inside the taking lens barrel is laterally retracted from the center of an optical axis so that the taking lens barrel as a whole can be slimmed down. For example, a group-3 lens which is one of within-group lenses is retracted in the taking lens barrel in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis so that the taking lens barrel as a whole can be slimmed down (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-46504). There has also been proposed an arrangement in which at the time of collapsing when a zoom motor is run to rotate a rotary cylinder, a lever is turned with rotation of the rotary cylinder and brought into abutment with a lens holder to rotate the lens holder, causing the lens holder to retract to the outside of the rotary cylinder (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2012-58354).
The technique described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2008-46504 is effective for an arrangement having a number of lens groups, but when there is only a small number of lens groups, for example, three lens groups, it is difficult to secure a space for the lens groups to retract. Also, the technique described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2012-58354 has a problem that a structure for retracting the lens holder is complicated. When the lens groups held by the lens holder lies on an optical axis, the lens holder is in a one-side abutting state, and image quality may be unstable due to irregularities in operation.